No Northern Lights?

The North-South Divide is a consequence of 40 years of media commentators who think that it is a naturally occurring phenomenon about which nothing can be done, despite the fact that it did not exist well into living memory.

And the North-South Divide is a consequence of 40 years of governing politicians who think that it is a positive moral imperative; that the North should be poor, because it deserves to be for not being the South.

Under the Conservatives, that was because the North generally did not vote Conservative.

Under New Labour, it was because much of the North had had the temerity to vote Labour before Tony Blair had become Leader, a crime for which we were punished mercilessly while he was Prime Minister.

The North, and similarly neglected and punished Wales, delivered the EU referendum to Leave. There was a reason for that.

And 200,000 people turned up to hear Jeremy Corbyn at last month's Durham Miners' Gala. Two hundred thousand. There was a reason for that, too.